Naval RAPIDFire – 40mm Highly Mobile Multi-Role Air Defence System
Naval forces are exposed to several different threats with complex behaviours, such as unmanned air and surface vehicles, light aircraft and missiles. RAPIDFire leverages the combined expertise of Thales and Nexter to meet the very short-range defence requirements of the armed forces. The solution features a latest-generation multi-threat (air and surface), multi-environment (land and naval) gun system, with a cost of engagement commensurate with the value of the threats.
RAPIDFire is a weapon system which offers high precision thanks to its optronic fire control system integrated on the turret, its advanced algorithms, powerful gun and automatic ammunition management system allowing the best reactivity and efficiency for the operator. RAPIDFire incorporates a 40 mm gun developed by CTAI, the international subsidiary of Nexter Systems and BAE Systems, to equip latest-generation armoured vehicles for the French, Belgian and British land forces. The system is compatible with the full range of amunitions developed for land forces programmes as well as the new smart Anti Aerial Airburst (A3B) rounds.
With its combination of fast-into-action time and firing accuracy, RAPIDFire provides the perfect response for protecting Navy vessels against modern threats. It has the potential to become a key component of our extensive offering of advanced force protection solutions.

Key features
- RAPIDFire is a state-of-the-art very short range defense solution, based on a modern 40mm gun suite
- RAPIDFire is designed to satisfy both Navy and Army requirements against modern threats
- RAPIDFire offers a multirole capability : both anti-air and anti-surface ones
- RAPIDFire gun system is able to fire in real-time from 5 different types of ammunition, which are automatically identified and selected facing the threat.